Calling Out
by word junkie09
Summary: SPOILERS. Even after leaving Mystic Falls, Jeremy can't adjust to a mundane life. So when he meets an odd girl with a potentially supernatural secret, he's intrigued. Could this be what he needs to get back to Mystic Falls and the fight against Klaus?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nothing even remotely involved with the Vampire Diaries belongs to me; expect that is, the DVDs and a ferocious and unquenchable love.

Notes: I've never written fanfiction before, but I've had this idea for a while and it keeps tugging on my brain. It was originally going to take place in Mystic Falls, but I figured that recent developments in the show actually better suit my purpose for this story. Don't get me wrong; I am number one in the line of people upset about the disappearance of Jeremy from my television every week. My only comfort is imagining Jeremy returning as a kick-ass, full-blown vampire slayer, complete with quippy remarks and constructive (and delicious) angst. Also, my original character's name is Aislyn (pronounced like Aslan the Lion from Chronicles of Narnia, but it ends with "lynn" instead of "lan.") I'm slightly reluctant to use unconventional names for protagonists, but I promise that this name has significance. Please let me know if I should continue this, as I'm not entirely sure if writing fanfiction is my thing.

Without further ado, the beginning of my tale:

Jeremy had been in Denver two weeks before he felt comfortable enough to enroll in an art class. It took just as long to acclimate to his new environment; the Thomases were a nice older couple, with children who had long since moved out, leaving them excited, confused, and over-eager at the presence of a young person in their house. Dr. Thomas had apparently been Jeremy's father's mentor during his residency and the two had kept in touch. Jeremy remembered spending winter breaks in Colorado with Dr. and Mrs. Thomas when he was younger, but it had been several years since he'd last seen them. As such, things were awkward and he spent almost the whole first week locked up in his room, save for the hourly checkups from Mrs. Thomas.

School was just as difficult. Jeremy knew that leaving Mystic Falls was for the best, but couldn't help feeling ridiculous living a normal teenage life. He still kept his ring on and always looked over his shoulder for any possible threat. His seemingly odd behavior granted him few favors when it came to other students in the school; soon after he arrived, he was branded as a loner and left largely to his own devices. Jeremy was fine with this; after months of fighting, or threats of fighting, supernatural beings, he wasn't even sure if he was capable of normal conversation. He was more than happy to focus on schoolwork instead. And art.

So finally, Jeremy worked up the nerve to join an art class. The arts program at his public school sucked due to lack of funding, so Jeremy decided to take a class at the local community college. The tuition was cheap, and the class was respected enough, and Jeremy didn't need anything fancy.

Jeremy arrived early and sat at a workspace in the back of the classroom. He looked around, observing the few other students in the room: mostly people in their mid-20s, artsy types, with the clear exception of an old man sitting front and center, art supplies lying neatly in front of him. Suddenly, someone plopped down next to Jeremy, despite the rows of empty workspaces.

"High school, right?"

Jeremy looked over to see a girl his age, bright blue eyes and frizzy hair. She was dressed in dark colors, but lacked the artsy-vibe that emanated from the other students. She stood out: awkward, just like her smile; not particularly beautiful or graceful, but oddly endearing.

"I only say that because you look young. You could very well just be young looking, or maybe you're a genius and already in college. Or you could be Doogie Howser. I don't know your life. I only ask because this course has been going for three weeks and I'm the only highschooler in the class. Solidarity is so much better with other people, you know?"

Jeremy was almost content to let her ramble on, as she seemed to be carrying the conversation quite well by herself, but she suddenly stopped, staring at him expectantly.

"Uh, yeah." Jeremy said. "I actually just started at Mount Forest High School. I'm new to town."

"Oh. That's cool. I go to Evergreen Academy, the all-girls school down the road from there."

"All girls? How'd you get roped into that one?" Jeremy was not entirely sure why he continued the conversation with the odd girl, but he found her oddly intriguing. Almost normal, but also not.

"My mom went there. I'm continuing the legacy." She paused for a brief moment. "So, why are you in this class?"

"I just felt like it." Jeremy explained. "I don't know. I've always been into art and figured that now was a good time to take a class. What about you?"

"My stepmom is making me." She said begrudgingly. "I suck at art, but she thinks it will be 'therapeutic.'" She made air quotes when she said the word.

And suddenly, it was as if a dark cloud descended over her and diminished her bubbly, dreamer personality. Her smile faded and her eyes turned cold. However, the cloud evaporated just as quickly; it seemed as though she consciously had to will it away. She gave her head a tiny shake.

"Before I could protest, my dad paid the tuition so here I am! I should warn you: I really suck. My hand-eye coordination is atrocious."

Jeremy gave a chuckle just as the instructor entered the room and began the lesson. Jeremy enjoyed the class immensely. He felt as though he learned a lot, while avoiding making a complete fool of himself and seeming like an ignorant beginner.

His new friend, on the other hand, was not so lucky. In all fairness, he had been warned, but he was surprised by her lack of skill. He found himself chuckling on several occasions, accompanied by a good-natured "Shut up" from his companion.

The two emerged from the room together when the class was over, laughing amicably.

"I told you I was bad!" she exclaimed, causing Jeremy to burst into another wave of laughter. He stopped however, when he found that she was staring at him, a serious look on her face. It was as if she was observing him; it made him feel strange.

"I'm Aislyn, by the way." she said suddenly. It was only then that Jeremy realized that they had not, in fact, exchanged names.

"Jeremy."

"Nice to meet you, Jeremy." Aislyn replied, extending her hand. It seemed odd and old-fashioned, but Jeremy accepted anyways and gave her hand a shake before releasing it. "So, I'll see you next week?"

"Yeah," Jeremy said. "Yeah, I'll see you next week."

Jeremy started towards his car, but was stopped by Aislyn calling out his name. He turned and despite the good 15 feet between the two of them, she still called out:

"I figure since you're new here, you're probably still looking for friends." She paused and gave her awkwardly endearing smile. "Welcome to Denver."

She then turned and walked away. Jeremy wasn't entirely sure, but he might have just made a new friend.


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: Yay, chapter 2! In the interest of keeping things interesting, I'm going to speed things up a bit; I hope I've done an adequate job developing Jeremy and Aislyn's relationship, but I really just want to get on to the good stuff. On that note, I apologize in advance for the cliffhanger that will be coming at the end of this chapter.

The next few months went by in a relative blur. Jeremy showed up for art class every week, and every week Aislyn would plop down next to him and start talking. Jeremy eventually found her tendency towards rambling endearing and familiar, and more often than not, he would find himself chuckling later over something she said just when the darkness of solitude was about to overtake him. And despite all her talk, Aislyn was never invasive, which Jeremy appreciated, as he did not want to reveal the secrets of his past. He sensed that Aislyn had some secrets of her own, as she would occasionally fall into a quiet, reflective state, as if the clouds descended upon her head as they had the first day. These episodes were few and far between and, while Jeremy was curious, he decided to respect her privacy just as she had respected his.

Their friendship was never officially confirmed, but cemented all the same when, after the third week of class, Aislyn off-handedly asked what Jeremy was doing that weekend. He was smart enough to understand the subtext ("If you're not busy, do you want to do something with me?"), and quickly decided _what the hell_ and responded with an opportunity-riddled "nothing."

And so, that Saturday, the two went to the movies. They saw some second rate horror movie, the kind with gratuitous violence and gore. Jeremy had long since become jaded to the horror genre, both because of frequent fright-night viewings he had as a kid, and the fact that he had, until very recently, been living in a horror film of his own. He was surprised, however, to find that Aislyn showed similarly minimal reaction to the film, squirming only once during the obligatory sex scene.

And just like that, Saturday night hangouts became a weekly thing. If it wasn't a movie, then it was coffee, or dinner at some small-time diner. And Jeremy wasn't quite sure how it happened, but suddenly he had a best friend; something he hadn't had in a long time. And it was so deliciously normal. Sure, Aislyn was not the most conventional of people, but their friendship felt natural and normal.

Her talkative nature and proclivity towards word vomit made up his quiet and loner nature. "You are the Sultan of silent, smoldering solemn-ness." Aislyn joked one day during art class before giggling over the new alliterative title she had given him. Jeremy chuckled along, causing Aislyn's giggles to turn into full-blown peels of laughter, causing her to fling her brush carelessly across her painting, ruining her already haphazard picture of a dog.

"Now look what you've done," she said with mock anger. "This could have been a masterpiece! All blame falls upon you for this one, mister." Her complete lack of artistic skills had long since been the butt of many of Jeremy's jokes. Every class, Aislyn would say, "Fingers crossed that today's is a masterpiece," and every time, Jeremy would reply, "Not likely!"

Jeremy also found that they had a lot in common. Aislyn also lost a parent when she was young: her mother, when she was 10. They often discussed their losses and Jeremy found it refreshing to talk to someone new, someone who didn't know his parents, or him during that time, but who still understood what it was like.

"I turned to drugs after it happened." Jeremy admitted one day.

"I became an avid _My Little Pony _collector. You tell me what's worse." She joked back.

And so, slowly but surely, Jeremy opened up to her. However, he always made sure to keep one part of his past a secret: the part that involved vampires and other creepy supernaturals that go bump in the night. He told her about Elena, Alaric, Jenna, and his complicated past with Bonnie (leaving out, of course, the part about witches and ghosts). He talked about Anna, the mysterious girl he'd loved and lost, and Vicki, the troubled enigma that had captured his attention. He talked about leaving Mystic Falls and how much it hurt, but how much it also felt right.

And Aislyn opened up to him as well.

"My dad thinks I'm weird." She confessed randomly, like it was something she just had to get off her chest. "And he's right, I am weird."

Jeremy had no response to that.

"My step-mom says I'm socially retarded; I say she lacks subtlety."

Jeremy laughed at that, before assuring her that he liked her just fine. Aislyn beamed at that, and Jeremy knew he had said the right thing. Jeremy liked that smile, however odd and graceless, and he liked putting it on her face.

That was why, when he came into class some two months after their first meeting, he was disappointed to see the dark cloud hanging over her head. He could tell just by looking at her that she was having one of her dark moods. She smiled, half-heartedly, as he sat down, before looking down again, a frown on her face.

Jeremy missed her usually lively conversation so, halfway through class, when she started singing under her breath, he decided to ask her about it.

"What are you singing?" he asked. It was a quiet, mournful tune, in a language he didn't understand or recognize. The song made him sad, not only because of the tune, but because of the tone of Aislyn's voice; it was sung with such sorrow.

"It's Celtic." She responded, stopping her song only briefly. "A song from my ancestors."

"What does it mean?"

Aislyn stopped what she was doing and looked up at Jeremy slowly. She looked him in the eye and said in the most serious and grave tone:

"It means someone is going to die soon."


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Chapter 3! It's been a while; I've been crazy busy (and, admittedly, also sulking a little bit now that Jeremy is officially gone)! It's admittedly short, and kind of a filler, but I felt like I needed to at least end the scene, no matter how delicious the cliffhanger. Please let me know how this story is going: if you like it, if you hate it, comments, criticisms, etc. And please enjoy!

**Chapter 3**

Jeremy was shocked. Surely he had heard her wrong; she did not just say that someone was about to die. He was supposed to leave death behind when he left Mystic Falls.

"What?" he asked, stunned.

"I'm sorry," Aislyn replied, as if she only now grasped the gravity of her statement. "That was rude of me." She paused, clearly at a lost of what to say. "I have to go."

And with that, she unceremoniously gathered her art supplies and left in the middle of a lecture, leaving both the professor and the students utterly shocked. Jeremy smiled apologetically on her behalf before gathering his own things to follow after her.

"Aislyn! Wait!" Jeremy yelled, trying to catch her attention as she frantically walked across the parking lot, cell phone in hand. She paused and turned around, dropping the phone to her side. From the look on her face, Jeremy knew she was going to act as if her confession had never happened; Jeremy was not going to let her off that easily.

"Sorry, Jeremy. I just remembered I have dinner, with my family. I can't be late." It was clear she was coming up with a half-baked excuse.

"Ais, your stepmom picks you up everyday. If you had a family dinner, don't you think she'd be here right now?" She looked ashamed, clearly found out. Jeremy continued. "Now, are we actually going to talk about your little outburst, or are you going to have to muse about the weather first?"

"Well, it is a lovely evening." Aislyn jokingly mused in one last attempt to change the subject. When Jeremy failed to even crack a smile, Aislyn sighed and put her phone in her pocket, ready to talk.

"You said someone was going to die." Jeremy prompted her.

"Yeah. It's an old lady, though, so natural causes." She started to ramble, with a bit of a laugh. "And not a grandmother, don't worry! Some spinster. Lots of cats. What will they do with all the cats?" She drifted off.

"Are you trying to make a joke?" Jeremy asked, almost angry that she could be so nonchalant about a death that she apparently predicted. "Because it's not funny. Stop it right now!"

"No," she said, suddenly serious again. "It's not funny. I'm sorry; I forget sometimes. Humor is the only way I cling to my fragile grasp of sanity. I forget death is not supposed to be a common occurrence."

"What's going on? What are you talking about?" Jeremy didn't like where the conversation was going. Sure, they had their fair share of personal discussions, but this felt… intimate. Like he was seeing and hearing something he wasn't supposed to.

"There are things about me that you don't know." Aislyn said, looking at the ground. Jeremy was shocked by the resignation in her posture. "Like, weird things. Unnatural things that you wouldn't believe."

"Try me." Jeremy said with a bitter laugh, stepping closer and putting his hand under her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes. They were coated with an unshed layer of tears, and Jeremy found himself totally entranced. He felt as if they were totally connected, so close and with her about to bear her soul. He felt, in that moment, that he could have shared anything with her. He contemplated telling her about his past in Mystic Falls as soon as she made her confession: anything to make her feel less vulnerable.

"Jeremy," she started. "I'm a-"

A car horn honked, shattering the moment. Aislyn looked away, relieved for once to find her stepmother's minivan waiting for her. She was shocked that she had come that close to revealing her secret. There was just something about him that made her want to open up to him. She turned back towards Jeremy.

"I have to go," she said, already walking away.

"Wait," Jeremy called, desperate for answers. "Can we finish this? I mean, can we talk later?"

All he got in return was a small, sad smile as she got in the car and drove away.


End file.
